How to add & remove a user account on Linux Cloud Servers

2020-05-25 By Ryan 7696 Views linux user account

14 reviews

In Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, the useradd command can be used to add/create new user accounts including their usernames, passwords and other data.

Below is the basic syntax of the command to add a user account.

useradd [options] username

This guide will describe the steps to add and remove a user account in the Linux server and layerstack will be used as a sample username.

Add a user account

To add a new user, both useradd and adduser commands can be used because adduser is just a symbolic link to useradd. The new username should be different from other usernames that are already created in the system.

To add a user called layerstack with the command useradd.
```
# useradd layerstack
```
Below is the command to set a password for the user account.
```
# passwd layerstack
```
To add a user called layerstack with the command adduser command.
```
# adduser layerstack
```
In Linux, user account details are stored in the following file /etc/passwd. The below command is used to verify and check the details of the newly created user account.
```
# grep layerstack /etc/passwd
```
*It contains a set of seven colon-separated fields as mentioned below.
```
layerstack:x:1001:1001::/home/layerstack:/bin/sh
```

layerstack – Account username.
x – User password and it is stored in /etc/shadow file in encrypted format as below image.
```
  # grep layerstack /etc/shadow
```
1001 – User ID (UID): Every user must have a UID (User identification number) and the root user is always reserved with 0 and 1-99 range is reserved for other predefined accounts.
1001 – Group ID (GID) group identification number and it is stored in /etc/group file.
```
  # grep layerstack /etc/group
```
The empty field. It allows adding additional information about the user such as the user’s full name, phone number, etc. The -c option can be used along with useradd command to add custom records, such as the user’s full name, phone number, etc to the /etc/passwd file. The below command will add the full name as LayerStack User for the user account layerstack.
```
  # useradd -c “LayerStack User” layerstack
```
This detail will be added in /etc/passwd as below:
```
  layerstack:x:1001:1001: LayerStack User:/home/layerstack:/bin/sh
```
/home/layerstack – It is the absolute location of the user’s home directory.
/bin/sh –Shell: It is the absolute location of the user’s shell.

Note: Replace the username layerstack with the original user account name.

Remove a user account

In Linux, user account details are stored in the file /etc/passwd. The below command is used to verify and check the details of the newly created test user account layerstack.

# grep layerstack /etc/passwd

linuxuser7

Below is the basic syntax of the command to delete/remove a user account.
```
# userdel [options] username
```
Before deleting, must kill all running processes which belong to that user account should be killed/terminated.

The below commands are used to find and kill the running process, then remove that user and verify it from the /etc/passwd file.
```
# pgrep -u layerstack
# ps -fp $(pgrep -u layerstack)
# killall -9 -u layerstack
# userdel layerstack
# grep layerstack /etc/passwd
```
The below command can be used to remove the user’s home directory and mail spool:
```
# userdel -r layerstack
```
Note: Replace the username layerstack with the original useraccount name.

How to add & remove a user account on Linux Cloud Servers

Add a user account

Remove a user account

Related Tutorials

What do you think about this article?

Try this guide to receive free bundled services at signup on a new free account.

Your Feedback Is Important

New Powerful Arm Virtual Machines